Spiritual FAQs

Q. I’ve heard many people saying ’sai ram sai shyam’,whereas sai baba himself use to say ’sabka maalik ek’while pointing his finger in the sky.On the other hand people also call him sadguru,so if sai baba is sadguru how can people call him by the name of ram and shyam?It is a humble request to please kindly explain the actual fact. – Meenal

A.In Kali-yuga, it is not surprising to find someone claiming to be God, or a mass of ignorant people declaring someone else to be God. To know whether someone is an incarnation of God or if he is bona fide representative of God (sadguru), one needs to consult the sastras, or authentic scriptures. If there are specific details mentioned in the sastras (e.g. the birth, the place of birth, the parents, etc.), then only we accept such a person as an incarnation or a sadguru. Otherwise we do not.

Regarding Sai Baba, there is no such mention about him in the sastras. He may be a social reformer who may have performed some miracles and helped people, but that does not make him an incarnation.

Q. Is Radharani a devotee or wife of Krsna? – Prashanth

A. Radharani is the topmost devotee of Lord Krishna. She represents the internal pleasure potency(shakti) of the Lord. She serves the Lord in a relationship of conjugal love, technically called parikiya rasa.

Q. How to improve the quality of chanting?How chant in the mood of service? – Vijay Raut

A. Quality of chanting can be very much improved by chanting in the association of devotees—either in an ISKCON temple or at your home or a nearby place where devotees can come together. Other tips that may be helpful is having sound sleep during the night (which means taking an early dinner, preferably a light one), singing prayers to the acaryas before chanting, etc. For a more elaborate discussion on this topic, you may refer to the book Art of Chanting Hare Krishna, by Mahanidhi Swami.

Q.How to overcome maya? Which is the easy way to follow to overcome maya’s effect ? – Aditya

A. “Mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te” (Bg. 7.14). The easiest way to overcome maya is by surrendering to Krishna, and the easiest way to develop this mood of surrender is by chanting the holy names of Krishna, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra,
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Q.Please write about Yamaraj Mahajan.- Yamaraj Mahajan Das

A. Yamaraja, the lord of death, is one of the twelve mahajanas, or authorities, in the science of devotional service. He is a pure devotee who relishes hearing and chanting the transcendental glories of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Q. What is the difference between MAHATATTVA  and FALSE EGO? – Nawal

A. Mahat-tattva is the sum total of all cosmic manifestation, the sum total of the material world. It is the germinating place of all creation. It is created by Maha-Visnu, a plenary portion of Lord Krishna.

Regarding false ego and other material elements, you may refer to Srila Prabhupada’s purport in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.2.28). A section of that purport is given below:

“Srila Sridhara Svami confirms that a part of the material nature, after being initiated by the Lord, is known as the mahat-tattva. A fractional portion of the mahat-tattva is called the false ego. A portion of the ego is the vibration of sound, and a portion of sound is atmospheric air. A portion of the airy atmosphere is turned into forms, and the forms constitute the power of electricity or heat. Heat produces the smell of the aroma of the earth, and the gross earth is produced by such aroma. And all these combined together constitute the cosmic phenomenon.”

Q. I worship Radha-Krishna deities at my place.The other day I found ISKCON site which laid rules for deity worship.i would like to know the importance of the mula mantra as it is stated in the site that those who have been initaited should only chant the mantra.I would be obliged if u can throw some light on it. – Ritesh

A. Mula-mantra is that part of a mantra that is chanted when invoking the deities for a specific action. For example, while putting the deities to rest, a particular mula-mantra is chanted along with the specific deity name. The mula-mantra remains constant while only the deity name changes. (This applies only if you have more than one deity on your altar, say Gaura-Nitai, Radha-Krishna, Jagannath-Baladev-Subhadra, etc.) The mula-mantra is different when waking up the deities after rest.

Since worship of Radha-Krishna Deities is very complex and elaborate and needs great care and attention, Srila Prabhupada established that only devotees who have received brahminical initiation (second initiation) can be qualified to worship Them. For regular devotees, Prabhupada recommended worship of Gaura-Nitai Deities, which can be done simply by the congregational chanting of the holy names.

Q. What should be our attitude while performing our duty?- Prashanth

A. Lord Krishna explains this point in the Bhagavad-gita (2.47). He says, karmanyevadhikaras te ma phalesu kadacana/ ma karma-phala-hetur bhur ma te sango ‘stv akarmani: “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.”
The easiest way to do this is by offering all the results to Krishna understanding that He is the master and proprietor of all that I have, and it is by His mercy that I am able to do whatever I can do.

Q.I want to know about inner voice. – Preeti

A. Generally the temptations that are put forward by the mind are misunderstood as inner voice. However immoral or unethical they may be, people tend to justify their acts by saying they were guided by “the inner voice.”

Inner voice is the voice of the Paramatma, Supersoul, Who is seated within everyone’s heart and is directing all living entities. At the present moment we are not in a position to identify His voice correctly, so we need a spiritual master who is a bona fide representative of the Supreme Lord. Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Bhagavad-Gita (18.58): “No conditioned soul actually knows what is to be done and what is not to be done, but a person who acts in Krishna consciousness is free to act because everything is prompted by Krishna [Supersoul] from within and confirmed by the spiritual master.”

So to understand the inner voice, we just need to surrender our lives to a bona fide spiritual master and listen to his instructions.

Q. If a person renounces his life for  the Supreme Lord is it good or bad?But according to karmi people it is not good to leave our relationship with our parents & relatives. But when I think from devotee point of view,I find very rare people who renounce their life for Krishna’s sake.I am confused.This question was asked by one my college friends. Please let me know the proper answer for the same. – Sanjay Bajpai

A. Everyone has to renounce his life for some cause—for one’s own self, for the family, the society, the nation, or for humanity as a whole. But it is understood that one who dedicates his life for the society is better than one who is simply focused on his individual or family needs. And one who dedicates his life for the nation’s cause is still better. But one who considers the whole world his family is the best because he has the broadest vision. Extending this logic further, we can easily conclude that one who renounces or sacrifices his life in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes, the master of the whole universe, is the topmost of all. This act is the highest good one can ever imagine.

By serving Krishna, we are not cutting off our relationships with our parents or relatives. A freedom fighter fighting for the nation’s cause may appear to have cut off all relations with his family or state, but actually service to the nation includes service to family and state. Similarly by serving Krishna, we are rendering the highest service to everyone—family, society, nation and the whole world.

The reason why we don’t find many people sacrificing their lives for Krishna’s sake is because people are not aware of Krishna’s supreme position and the supreme benefit one derives by dedicating ourselves to His service. It’s our duty to educate everyone about this.